Envelope is the feature that configures the sound volume changes pertaining to one note, like the attack (accent), decay, sustain, and release.

※ It is functionally equivalent to the dynamic control of VOCALOID2 Vocal Expression Control Properties.

You set the location and volume of a maximum of 5 control points. Applying a detailed change curve like VOCALOID2 Dynamics Parameter Track is not possible, but with good settings it can emphasize the consonants and improve the articulation, and can to some degree reproduce the natural volume changes of songs vocals.

Opening the Envelope screen

(1). Select just one note for which you want to adjust the envelope, then select the menu "Edit" 「編集」 -> "Region" 「選択範囲」 -> "Envelope Editor" 「エンベロープ」.

You may also right-click on the note for which you want to adjust the envelope, like in (2), then select "Envelope" 「エンベロープ」 or use the Ctrl + Y shortcut to open the edit screen.

Envelope screen feature list

Number

Feature Name

Feature content

1

p1

The position of the first moving point. Specifies the distance in milliseconds from the beginning.Specifies mainly the attack time (consonant accent peak) that emphasizes the consonant part.※ You may also entirely adjust the place and volume of the 5 control points by dragging the red points on screen, but you should directly enter numerical values if you want to fine tune.

2

v1

The volume of the first moving point. Set it within a range of 0 .. 200, with 100 as base value.※ Set the volume in the same range for the other moving points.

3

p2

The position of the second moving point. Specifies the distance in milliseconds from the first moving point. Specifies mainly the decay time (the decrease of the consonant part accent till the part where the vowel volume is constant).

4

v2

The volume of the second moving point.

5

p5

The position of the fifth moving point. Specifies the distance in milliseconds from the second moving point.Note: By default, the fifth moving point is not displayed. (As the fifth moving point was added in Ver0.2.36, this is in order to maintain compatibility with the older versions.)When pressing the "e" button (7), the fifth moving point is added between the second and the third.

6

v5

The volume of the fifth moving point.

7

Add Moving Point Button

Press this button to add the fifth moving point.

8

p3

The position of the third moving point. Specifies the distance in milliseconds from the fourth moving point. Specifies mainly the delay between the end of the sustain (the part where the vowel volume is constant) and the beginning of the fade-out (slow decay).

9

v3

The volume of the third moving point.

10

p4

The position of the fourth moving point. Specifies the distance in milliseconds from the end.Specifies mainly the release time (the last decay).

11

v4

The volume of the fourth moving point.

12

Preutterance value

Specifies the preutterance value. Appears on the screen as a gray vertical line. For a detailed description of the preutterance -> (5). Preutterance

13

Overlap value

Specifies the overlap value. Appears on the screen as a light blue vertical line. For a detailed description of the overlap -> (4). Overlap

14

Voice file values button

This button applies the preutterance and overlap values taken from the primary sound settings.

This button returns to the default setting values of the initial envelope. The default initial values are (p1,v1)=(0,0), (p2,v2)=(5,100), (p3,v3)=(35,100), (p4,v4)=(no set value, 0), (p5,v5)=no value set. Reference -> 9-3. Changing the default envelope.※ If you want to reset the envelope of multiple or all the notes at once, select the notes you want to reset, then press the Envelope Reset Button on the top right of the main screen.

17

Coupling feature

When checked (default), dragging and displacing the p1, p2 or p4 moving points also moves the other moving points along so at to keep a constant distance with them.When unchecked, dragging and displacing the p1, p2 or p4 moving point does not move the other moving points, and their distance is recalculated.

18

OK button

Press this button to apply the envelope settings and close the screen.

19

Cancel button

Press this button to cancel the envelope settings and close the screen.

9-2. Normalizing the envelope

When shortening a note or configuring a continuous sound source, it may happen that the envelope lines become crossed, as indicated by a 「!」 warning like in the picture below. (The display has been switched to the envelope pitch curve display mode, e.g. by pressing the 「～」 button at the lower left of the screen.)

Even in this state, playing or exporting to a WAV file is possible, but it is recommended to normalize the envelope with the following methods.

Method 1. Open the envelope screen of the note with a warning, then press the "Normalize" 「正規化」 button.

It is automatically fixed like in the picture below: press the "OK" button to close the screen.

Method 2. Select one or multiple notes with a warning, then press the "Apply automatic parameter adjustment" 「パラメータ自動調整適用」 button.

It is also possible to perform the normalization all at once by selecting all the notes and pressing the "Apply automatic parameter adjustment" 「パラメータ自動調整適用」 button.

Note: The normalized values differ slightly from those of the Envelope screen Normalize button.

9-4. Blending vowels

Vowel blending is an adjustment technique that smoothly connects sounds by cross-fading (crossing) the envelopes of the vowel part at the rear of consonants and the front part of the vowel (or near-vowel) note that follows.

This can be done in the Envelope screen too, but this can be easily adjusted with the dedicated "Crossfade" 「母音結合」 tool.

Select the notes for which you want to blend the vowels, then select the menu "Tools" 「ツール」 -> "Built-in tools" 「組み込みツール」 -> "Crossfade" 「母音結合」 to open the "Automatic Crossfade" 「自動母音結合」 screen.

"Automatic Crossfade" screen description

Saving

Number

Feature Name

The base value

Feature Description

1

Crossfade

Checked

Vowel blending is enabled when the box is checked.

2

Crossfadetarget vowels

a,i,u,e,o,n「あ、い、う、え、お、ん」

You can add other vowels like e.g. "wo" 「を」 to the target vowels, by typing them separated by a ",".

3

Width

50 ms

Set the width to a short value for short notes or fast-paced songs, and set it to a long value for slow-paced songs or when blending vowels of the same kind (like e.g. "ka + a" 「か＋あ」).

4

Start

-25 ms

As a general rule, set it to the negative half value of "width".

5

Volume

0.95Checked

As the pronunciation becomes bad when the vowel volume is much larger than that of the consonant, this automatically decreases the volume of the following vowel. This value is a ratio of the preceding note. 「手前の音符比」.When unchecked, you can disable the volume control. (This is implemented since Ver0.2.60)

6

OK button

-

Press OK to close the screen and apply the settings.

7

User settings

-

Enter an appropriate configuration name in the pull-down box then press "s" to save the current settings, that can be later retrieved by selecting them from the pull-down box. If you want to delete settings, select the corresponding configuration then press "d". (This is implemented since Ver0.2.60)

9-5. Automatically adjusting the envelopes all together (hidden feature)

In the "Automatic Crossfade" 「自動母音結合」 processing screen introduced in the previous Blending vowels section, there is a hidden features allowing to automatically adjust all the envelopes together for improving the pronunciation through pertinent changes in the volume of the consonant parts.

Warning: as it is a hidden features, UTAU's author will provide no support. Please use at your own risk.

(1). Displaying the automatic adjustment envelope

Double-click on an empty space (the red circle part of the image below, or both sides of the "OK" button) in the "Automatic Crossfade" 「自動母音結合」 processing screen.

※ If you double-click again on an empty space in the "Automatic Crossfade" 「自動母音結合」 processing screen, it reverts to hiding the envelope adjuster features.

(2). Apply the automatic envelope adjustments to each note

※ The following methods were introduced by Maru@Loop, N.H.P.'s organizer, but as there are also cases where other tonal mark methods are necessary depending on the type of songs or primary sounds, refer to them as general tonal mark techniques. Also, please refer to the video course made by Maru@Loop san 17. [UTAU:N.H.P. Envelope mass changes [course]].

First, refer to the image below, and perform the following settings. (How the adjustments are concretely performed is explained down below.)

To prevent against unintentional vowel blending, uncheck "Crossfade" 「母音結合」. (If you selected only consonants to process, there is no problem even if you don't uncheck.)

Check "Env type 1", and enter "ka,ki,ku,ke,ko,ta,te,to,pa,pi,pu,pe,po" 「か,き,く,け,こ,た,て,と,ぱ,ぴ,ぷ,ぺ,ぽ」 in "Target" 「対象」. (They must be separated by a half-width "," character)

In "Env type 1", enter 180 in "Start" 「開始」, 100 in "Up" 「上」, and 60 in "Down" 「下」, all in half-width characters.

With the above-mentioned procedure, the envelope is adjusted so as to improve the pronunciation of the consonant part. How the adjustments are concretely performed is explained with two separate types.

(1). Env type 1 (ka column, ta, te, to, pa column)

Let's explain using the default voice "ta" as an example.

As the pronunciation time of the consonant part is short for the kana of the ka column, ta, te, to, and the pa column, using the "Env type 1" feature emphasizes the consonants with an instant increase of the consonant volume, by setting the position of the first control point (p1) of the envelope to 5 milliseconds (fixed value for Env type 1) and raising the volume (v1) to 180%. By changing the value of "Start" 「開始」 in "Env type 1", the volume (v1) of the moving point (p1) can be freely adjusted.As the second moving point (p2) is automatically set to the preutterance location (gray vertical line), entering the value 100 in "Up" 「上」 in "Env type 1" and returning the volume (v2) to 100% prevents the phenomenon that unexpectedly extinguishes the consonant (masking effect) when it increases till the volume of the vowel part.By the way, you can set the volume of the third moving point (p3) and the attenuation of the vowel part (decay) with the "Down" 「下」 value in "Env type 1", so adjust it to an attenuation factor at your linking.

(2). Other Env type

Let's explain using the default voice "sa" as an example.

As the gritty sound of the sibilants that are at the beginning of consonants, and especially the "sa" column, can become discordant, using the "Other Env type" 「Env type その他」 feature quietens the sibilance by automatically displacing the first moving point of the envelope (p1) to the preutterance position (gray vertical line), and slowly increasing the volume of the consonant part.The second moving point (p2) is automatically set to the position 70 ms after (p1), and leaving the "middle" 「中」 value to 100 holds the volume of the vowel part to 100 and under. However, as the articulation can becoming bad when the consonant is quieten, depending on the type of the consonant, adjust by shifting the time position of the first moving point (p1) ahead, or by entering a larger value in the "up" 「上」 value of "Other Env type" 「Env type その他」 to increase the volume (v1) of the moving point (p1).By the way, you can set the volume of the third moving point (p3) and the attenuation of the vowel part (decay) with the "Down" 「下」 value like in "Env type 1", so adjust it to an attenuation factor at your linking.